Germany’s Merz eases tensions with Washington even as US troops fall | Political Affairs

The German chancellor says criticism of Donald Trump’s approach to Iran has nothing to do with the announcement of a military withdrawal.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has tried to reduce tensions with the United States after Washington announced that it wants to reduce the number of American troops in Germany.

Merz said on Sunday that US plans to withdraw troops “have nothing to do with” the conflict with President Donald Trump over his policy on Iran.

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“I am still convinced that the American people are the most important for us in the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO),” Merz told the ARD reporter in an interview that will be broadcast later.

Trouble started last Monday when Merz showed up oppose Trump’s actions in Iran, where the US and Israel launched a war without consulting Washington’s NATO allies.

Iran was “embarrassing” the US, Merz said, warning that Washington did not have a clear strategy to end the war. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul later tried to respond to the comments, saying Merz was referring to Iran’s “bad behavior” in the peace talks.

That doesn’t seem to take the sting out of Washington. Trumpet he scolded Merz on this statement, saying that the German leader “does not know what he is talking about” and threatened to withdraw American troops.

On Friday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 American troops over the next 12 months.

This is expected to reduce the number of US troops in the country by about 14 percent. Germany has the largest concentration of US troops in Europe—about 36,000 troops. Italy has 12,000, and 10,000 in the UK.

Mr Trump also announced on Friday the increase in tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union, with Germany making up the bulk of the figures.

NATO-US alliance under strain

Germany has been one of the US’s most reliable allies with Israel, Berlin is one of Israel’s most important arms suppliers.

Merz supported Israel’s attack on Iran last year, saying it was “doing a dirty job for all of us”.

Germany has also consistently supported Israel’s war of genocide in Gaza, while dealing with Palestinian protests at home through mass arrests, propaganda and censorship.

Due to rising oil and commodity prices, Merz appeared to be changing his views on the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Trump has criticized Washington’s NATO allies in the EU for being too dependent on the US, urging governments such as Germany to start boosting defense spending and weapons upgrades.

Washington has stepped up these objections in recent weeks as EU countries have refused to join the war against Iran or support a forced reopening. Hormuz River.

Spain, in particular, has been outspoken in its condemnation of the war and has closed its airspace to the US military amid its bombing campaign in Iran.

On Sunday, Trump shared an article from the far-right Breitbart social media website repeating his previous comment, titled: “Trump Tells German Chancellor Merz ‘Fix Your Broken Country,’ Mulls Pulls US Troops to Spain and Italy”.

About 4,000 US troops are in Spain.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday that the US decision to withdraw troops from Germany was “clear”.

Speaking to the DPA news agency, Pistorius stressed that the US-Europe relationship is important and that “the Europeans must take responsibility for increasing our security”.

NATO spokesperson Allison Hart wrote on X that the alliance is “working with the US to understand the details of their decision”.